It is common for floors in buildings, such as houses and offices, to require the removal of debris--such as dirt, dust, and the like--on a regular basis. Further, the removal of randomly spilled debris may be required on an occasional basis. Obviously, the dust or dirt cannot merely be picked up, but must either be vacuumed up, or swept to a localized area of the floor where it can then be picked up in some manner.
Vacuum cleaners are often used to perform the task of removing dust or dirt from a floor because they tend to do a thorough job and because the dust or dirt is immediately removed by the vacuum cleaner, and subsequent picking up of the durst or dirt is not required.
It is not always easy or convenient to vacuum this dust or dirt, however. It is therefore quite common to use a broom to sweep the dust or dirt into a localized area for subsequent pick up. Various types of brooms exist, such as a push broom, or a common bi-directional sweeping broom, among others. The bi-directional type of sweeping broom is the most usual since it is suitable for relatively quick general sweeping of a floor and allows for sweeping against walls, in corners, and so on. Further, these types of brooms are also relatively lightweight and easy to manipulate. Dirt or dust may be easily swept in any direction towards a localized area using mostly manipulation of the broom and minimizing the amount of walking that needs to be done.
Unfortunately, once brooms move dust and dirt to a localized area, they cannot be used to pick up the dirt or dust. Typically, a dust pan is used in conjunction with a broom to pick up the dirt or dust. Dust pans tend to be messy and inconvenient, however. Further, the dust or dirt in the dust pan must be subsequently disposed of elsewhere.
It is also possible to use a vacuum cleaner to vacuum up any dirt swept to a localized area by a broom. Using a vacuum cleaner in this manner, especially a small hand-held vacuum cleaner such as a DUST BUSTER.TM., appears sensible in some regards in that the vacuuming overcomes the problems of using a dust pan, and is therefore not messy, not overly inconvenient, and does not require subsequent further disposal of the dust or dirt. However, it seems somewhat illogical to use both a broom and a vacuum cleaner to rid a floor of dirt or dust when a broom is typically used because it is inconvenient to use a vacuum cleaner in the first instance.
It is also possible to use a small portable vacuum cleaner, either in the form of an "electric broom" or in the form of a hand-held vacuum, such as a DUST BUSTER.TM., to clean dust or dirt from a floor. The main problem with these types of vacuum cleaners is that they cannot sweep dust or dirt to a centralized location, even though the name "electric broom" suggests otherwise, and sweeping may sometimes be required.
Further, these small portable vacuum cleaners typically lack a high suction capacity and often rely on various ways of channelling their suction, as will be discussed subsequently.